Pail-clasp



(No Model.)

S. O. GARY.

PAIL' CLASP.

N0.-585,0Z1. Patented June 22,1897.

INVEN TOR WITNESSES 6% UNITED STATES PATENT GFETCE SPENCER O. GARY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

PAl L-CLAS P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 585,021, dated June 22, 1897.

Application filed June 6,1896. Renewed March 29, 1897. Serial No. 629,854. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, SPENCER C. CARY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pail Hooks or Clasps, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of the same, inwhich Figure 1 represents a blank from which the clasp may be formed. Fig. 2 is an upper face view of the device as it appears when the metal has been split and spread. Fig. 3 is a View in perspective of one form of the finished article. Fig. 4: is a similar view of a slightlymodified form of finished article. Fig. 5 represents a pail on which the cover has been secured by two hooks, such as are shown in Fig. 4:; and Fig. 6 is a view, partly in section, of a box to which a clasp like thatof Fig. 3 has been applied.

Pail hooks, clasps, and analogous devices are largely used to secure wooden covers to wooden pails, to secure lids to boxes, and for various similar purposes. Generally in such uses the clasp must be bent over a corner and the end or ends driven into the wood of the parts to be secured together. It is therefore important that the end of the tang or prong to be driven should be sharp, that the body of said prong should be stiff enough to penetrate the wood without bending, that the part immediately adjacent to the prong should be of sufficient body to constitute a good driving-surface, that the remainder of the body intermediate the ends should be wide enough to make a good bearing-surface where it rests against the parts to be secured, and should also be flexible enough to bend readily at almost any point intermediate the prongs, (if there are two,) that it may be easily applied to the intended use. A wire sufficiently flexible for the last purpose lacks the stiffness requisite at and immediately adjacent to the prong, one with suificient rigidity at and near the prong lacks the requisite flexibility, and both, unless such a size is employed as would be entirely impracticable for general purposes, are not as wide as the trade desires. If one suitable for making a good prong and a good head adjacent thereto is flattened along the center to give greater width, the

metal is so hardened as to require annealing to overcome the consequent brittleness.

, My invention is intended to obviate the'difficulties set forth and to present a clasp or analogous article possessed of all the desirable features named, but without the objectionable ones.

In constructing my clasp (say that repre sented by Fig. 3) I cut from a wire of such size as to constitute a stiff and serviceable prong a blank such as shown in Fig. 1, as by so doing I can point the ends at the time of severing the blank from the main body of wire-that is, point one end on.the blank and one adjacent on the main body, which adjacent end will in turn become one on the next blank cut. I then place the blank between suitable dies and split it (preferably horizontal) for a considerable portion of its length, at the same time forcing the split portions apart and preferably on opposite sides of a central line through the tang parts, producing an article substantially such as is shown in Fig. 2, in which there is a body part b b of considerable width, but only about one-half of the thickness of the wire, (which consequently bends readily and yet forms a good bearing-surface,) and two prong ends 19, which are solid and of sufficient rigidity to drive well. I then bend these prong ends at points close to those where the body part separates into the divisions b b, but leaving enough solid metal to constitute a good driving-head. In fact, the bending near the slitted part creates slight swells or elevations, which constitute excellent drivingheads h, and the re sult is an acceptable hook, clasp, or staple.

The slitting and spreading of the body portions have not hardened the metal, as would the hammering, rolling, or other process necessary to thin or flatten that portion, and as the slit does-not extend the full length of the clasp the heads and prongs remain of the original thickness and rigidity, and the desirable features specified are secured while the objectionable ones are omitted, and this, too, without any unnecessary steps in the process.

I do not limit myself to producing the goods by performing the various operations in the order named, as the tangs might be bent before the body is slit, and the ends might be pointed at a different period than that specified; but the arrangement of steps in the course of manufacture depends largely upon the particular manufacturing facilities possessed by the operator.

When a hook proper is desired, as is sometimes the case with pails that are to be repeatedly fastened and for convenience should have the fastener so secured as to remain with one part ready to be fastened to the other, I frequently form a tang on but one end and turn an eye on the other, as shown in Fig. 4. The advantages described are all present as to the body, head, and one tang, with the additional feature of an eye for permanent fastening at the other end.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, a fastener formed of a single piece of metal with 20 a solid prong pointed at the end, a body portion, the metal of which is split and spread apart and a driving part substantially at the bend between the split part and the point, all substantially as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a fastener formed of a single piece of metal with an eye turned in the end, and a body portion the metal of which is split and spread apart intermediate the eye and the opposite end.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 2d day of June, 1890.

SPENCER O. CARY. Witnesses:

ARDEN S. FITCH, A. G. N. VERMILYA. 

